The Last One Left
by Etosca
Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.
1. Prologue

Summary

After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach

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Prologue

Warnings: Violence and blood

Ichigo lies in the remains of the soul society, gone, everything that he once knew is gone. The only thing that remains is the rubble and debris. Even the human world has been reduced to nothing more than dust, there is nothing left in either world. He is the lone survivor of the human race and the last soul reaper. Everything is gone. Even now, hours after the final fight, pieces of the seireitei gates are still crumbling, large chunks of the gates crashing to the ground.

A small pool surrounds Ichigo, he doesn't make a move to sit up, only looking around at the debris with dull, lifeless eyes. Shingles and large beams of wood stick out of large chunks of white sekkiseki stone that once made up the walls of the seireitei. Not a single house in the rukongai remains standing, only fragments, wooden boards and supports have been shattered to nothingness.

The soul society is empty, desolate, the type of quiet that echoes, the type of quiet that makes the silence ring in your ears, so quiet that it's deafening. Ichigo looks down to the left, among the rubble and dust is Aizen, he's still alive, at least that's what it looks like to Ichigo. He has no idea how much time has passed at this point, he stopped counting the days at this point, the date, time, none of it really mattered anymore. Ichigo no longer knew how old he was, for all he knows he could have been lying in the debris for years or for seconds. It all melts together, each day, each week, each month and each year, it's all the same and it will always be the same because he is the last. He is the last person in the soul society, the last shinigami, the last member of the 13 Gotei and the last living human that is, if he is even considered living anymore. He is alone, utterly alone.

He looks down at the hogyoku at his fingertips and stares that the bluish-purple orb that caused all of this. All of the death, destruction and despair that has occurred stemmed from this orb, a single small object caused the destruction of almost everything. Ichigo's lifeless eyes look down at the hogyoku at his side hoping that staring at it would make it go back to the way it was before the war, so that his friends survive, so that his family survives.

He grasps the hogyoku tightly in his hand, half wanting to break it in his grip and half not wanting too. Ichigo sighs and spins the orb around in his hand observing each side and the strange bluish-purple glow radiating from it. He places it back on the ground and winces as he pushes himself up into a sitting position carefully, so not to disturb any of his wounds, previous or current. He brings the orb at arms length from his face, and watches as the glowing grows brighter. Ichigo fiddles with the hogyoku in his hand and looks up at the sky. His gaze snaps back to the orb as the glowing shines brightly, bluish-purple rays and light radiate from it. Ichigo drops it, letting it fall onto the rubble, it continues glowing and shining only getting brighter as time goes by. A bright bluish-purple reiatsu fills the air surrounding the hogyoku, it swirls around it, creating a mini vortex of colours. Ichigo watches with slight curiosity buried underneath his lifeless gaze as the colours of the vortex mesh together making a deep purple.

The deep purple vortex suddenly implodes revealing a small girl with deep purple hair and bluish-purple eyes. Her hair goes down to her waist and is pulled into two long plaits, one on each side. She wears a dark blue kimono with yellow flowers on it and a red obi around her waist. She smiles at Ichigo showing the gaps between her teeth, Ichigo watches her then looks up at the sky again.

"You're the Hogyoku aren't you" Ichigo states, not taking his eyes off the sky.

_She looks at him and smiles, "Yes Ichigo-san" _

"Why are you here?" he asks, still staring up at the sky.

_The Hogyoku giggles, "I'm here to send you back of course."_

Ichigo looks down from the sky and stares at her, cautiously observing her as she skips around him.

"Why?" he asks breaking the silence.

_"Ichigo-san is kind and nice," She stops skipping and her happy tone turns melancholic, "but lonely and sad, I love Ichigo-san, I want him to be happy." she exclaims, "If I sent him back he will be happy again, right?" _

Ichigo smiles slightly, "Right" he says halfheartedly, not quite believing her.

_The Hogyoku smiles, "Are you ready Ichigo-san?"_

She crouches beside him and touches the area just above his heart, she smiles. Ichigo struggles to stay awake, the debris around him fading and the world spinning around him. His head pounds and his wounds burn, everything hurts. He looks over to where the Hogyoku was, only to find neither her nor the orb. His eyelids feel heavy, he can't stay awake for much longer. A flash of bluish-purple light shines in front of him as he loses consciousness.

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Hello, I'm Etosca, this is a new story that I'm working on and I will hopefully be updating once every week or fortnight and surprisingly, I'm a little over halfway through the second chapter. Also this story will hopefully get better as the chapters progress so for the first little bit you'll have to bare with me and my awful descriptions. Anyway, constructive criticism is always appreciated, my writing style is a work in progress so any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Another thing, my grammar is probably atrocious, I'm working on it so bare with me. Also if anyone has any ideas for a title, I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you.

Bye


	2. Chapter 1

The Last One Left

Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

Chapter 1

Ichigo groans as he slowly opens his eyes, his head still pounding and his wounds still burning. He rubs his bleary eyes with the back of his hand, his dull amber eyes taking in his unusual surroundings. Darkness seems to surround him although bursts of light shatter through the darkness every now and then. He rubs his eyes again hoping to see things more clearly.

Shades of greens burst out at him, sunlight shines through the gaps between the leaves above him. Long pieces of smooth grass tickles his fingertips, he grasps it in his hand and feels each stem. He looks around, surrounded by long green grass and tall trees as far as the eye could see. He rubs his eyes yet again, not believing what he is seeing.

Ichigo touches his pounding head and carefully sits up, half expecting the rubble and debris to reappear. So unsure of whether this is reality or a hopeful nightmare teasing and taunting him. He shakes his head, trying to think this through, find a logical answer. None of this makes sense to him, he winces as his head pulses, resurfacing recent memories that he'd forgotten. Ichigo pulls his knees to his chest, he lightly smiles, it worked, it really worked. He's back, finally at least thats what he assumes, for all he knows it could be a hallucination or a cruel dream like he thought before. After all, time travel isn't possible, it caused so many paradoxes that it just wouldn't work, there would be two Ichigo's at one point in time. Although if he did travel through time, maybe he took the place of the past Ichigo, so the real question is whether he is in the soul society or the living world.

His head pounds again causing him to lose his train of thought, he pushes off the ground and shakily stands on his feet. He looks down at the ground, surprised by the distance from the ground to his head, either he shrank or everything is a little bit bigger. Ichigo brings his hands out in front of him, small, surprisingly small, his fingers are shorter and his palms are smaller. He looks down at his feet, also small and strangely enough no shoes. Ichigo takes a step but falls over, unused to his smaller limbs and consequently smaller strides. He gets back up and starts walking again, this time paying attention, trying not to take too large a step. He walks through the long grass and in between trees, not paying much attention to the scenery, he just filters through his thoughts.

Hundreds upon thousands of thoughts race through his head, each differing from the last and some unusually childish. The first thought, being where did his wounds go. Although, the main question on his mind is whether this is the soul society or the human world. For all he knows he could be in Arashiyama Forest, outside of Kyoto or perhaps he isn't even in Japan anymore. However, he could also be in one of the Rukongai, or maybe even outside it, if that is possible. Then there is the question of his small stature, simply small as he previously thought or everything else is bigger. The former, as unlikely as it may seem, is probably more likely especially when it comes to the 'magical' orb known as the Hogyoku.

Ichigo shakes his head, shifting his focus back to walking. In the distance he can see a shimmering lake hidden amongst crowded trees. He speeds up, walking faster and faster, until he's nearly running. Ichigo gaining confidence in this smaller body, attempts to shunpo, he falls flat on his face and unfortunately straight into the lake. His body shudders as the cold water surrounds him in the surprisingly deep lake. Getting over the initial shock he pushes off the bottom of the lake and swims back up. He gasps and splutters as his lungs become reacquainted with oxygen. Ichigo crawls out of the lake, to put it simply he was wet, extremely wet. He sits by the edge and looks down at his reflection. Large amber dull doe eyes stare back at him, a round face and bright orange hair. Ichigo scowl and hits the reflection, expecting it to look less childlike. However, it's the same as it was a moment ago, childish, so very childish.

_"Don't you like what I did Ichigo-san?" her giggling voice echoes around his head, "You look like a child again! Isn't that good?"_

Ichigo doesn't respond, he stares at the navy rags that he seems to be wearing, a large band of what he assumes is black tape catches his eye. He stares at it, tracing it with his own fingers as it seems to go around his neck. It looks like a tattoo but to his fingers it feels like cloth, strange cloth, but cloth never the less. It feels like leather and silk at the same time, in some places it's even slightly prickly. He follows the tattoo again to find a thumb sized image of mask. Long bent horns protrude from the area above where it's temple would be and black lines strike through the dark chasms that he assumes to be eyeholes in an unusual shape. The fierce looking long teeth only clarifies his suspicions.

_"You like it right?" she asks,_ Ichigo can practically see her little grin.

"What is this?" He asks, hoping for at least a half reasonable answer.

_"They're restrictors!" she smiles, "I'll release them for you if you want"_

"Alright," Ichigo agrees.

Black reiatsu flares, crushing half of the plants and denting the ground around him by the sheer pressure of his reiatsu. His body feels like it's on fire, he desperately tries to rein it in, but as he pulls more back in, he releases more. Ichigo's struggling to stay standing from pressure and potency of his reiatsu affecting himself. The tattoos are burning bright red, inside his head he can hear the Hogyoku giggling and laughing. He falls to one knee, flashes of bad memories resurface as he struggles to move. It feels like he can't breath, for more reasons that one, his chest hurts. Ichigo grasps the image of the mask, the tattoo burns at his fingers but his grip only tightens. The hogyoku tisks and reseals the resistors.

He takes a deep breath and lets himself fall back into the grass, the pain slowly fades but the mask tattoos continue to pulse, sending shivers down his spine with each movement.

"Hogyoku, what did you do?" he asks suspiciously.

_"Nothing Ichigo-san." She giggles, "Your new body just can't handle the amount of reiatsu you had as an adult," her giggling stops, "you're a soul stuck in the body and mind of a child, more specifically you're nine year old self, while your memories and personality stay the same, your reactions to certain things are different," she goes silent, "because your younger self's mind is remembering all of the things that you've been through and reacting in the way a child would to certain triggers." She pauses again, before crying out, "I'm sorry Ichigo-san!" _

Ichigo lays there in silence mulling over what she just said, he sighs, "It's alright, you brought me back and this time I'll protect everyone, I won't fail this time, and I'm not alone anymore."

Ichigo stares at his hands, shiny, red burns in the shape of the mask adorns each palm. He thrusts his hands into the water, the cool sensation soothing his burning hands. The water licks at his hands.

Compared to other injuries he's had this is nothing. However, burns often bring back bad memories for him, burns are nasty, horrific even, and intensely painful, he knows this better than most people.

His hands shake as memories flash in front of his eyes, Ichigo moves forward, falling face first into the lake. The memories stop, he swims back up to the surface and again crawls out of the lake. He pushes himself up, mindful not to disturb the burns on his hands, and walks off, in the direction that he hopes leads to a town.

It's all the same, medium tree, small tree, medium tree, small tree and so on, everything looks the same. He can't even tell whether he's been here before at this point, there aren't any distinguishing features anywhere, it's like someone did that on purpose to make people get lost. Ichigo jumps, as giggling suddenly echoes in his head, causing him to lose his footing and fall face first into the grass. The giggles turn into full blown laughter. He gets back up, and continues walking, dull amber eyes staring straight ahead of him, half searching for a town and half glazed over, almost completely out of it.

His mind wanders as he walks, the last two hours on repeat as he tries to find a logical reason. Each situational possibility playing out in his head along side the past and none of them working out quite right, in some aspects the situations work but in others they are the opposite. Ichigo filters through the possibilities, and the questions that follow them in tow. Each possibility drawing a blank, and the questions are left unanswered.

Ichigo focuses back on his surroundings, trees still surround him and the long grass still tickles his legs as he walks. His pace comes to a slow stop, the sun glares through the trees, great shadows cover the forest. He shields his eyes with his hand, and stares at a shining light, flickering and every now and then, disappearing. He cautiously moves towards the lights, noting as the amount of lights grow as he gets closer. Laughter and hushed tones, sounds of joy, excitement, all sounds that he hasn't heard for a while. He walks slightly slower, getting close enough to see three children running after fireflies and another watching from a tree branch. The smallest laughs and jumps around, trying to catch one in his hands. Ichigo watches, a blank look on his face making him feel even creepier. It seems creepy to him, here he is a twenty something or thirty something year old watching four little children, that he doesn't know, play. The one on the tree clears his throat, the other children stop chasing fireflies, and he stares straight at Ichigo, his gaze is harsh. Ichigo hesitates a little and shuffles back.

The tree branch kid jumps down and calls out, "W-who's there, show yourself! Coward!"

Ichigo freezes, the branch kid continues, "Y-you coward! What do you want from us! We don't have any water or money!"

Ichigo takes a deep breath and walks forward into the light, the tree branch kid glares at Ichigo. He flinches a little, knowing that he fully deserves his glares, Ichigo looks down at the ground and quietly apologizes before retreating. He walks for a little before sprinting off, trying to get as far away from them as possible. Memories of his family come flooding back, images of Karin and Yuzu trying to catch fireflies behind their house.

He is such a coward, he is fully aware of that even though he doesn't like to admit it, he is a coward. He ran away from a bunch of children, harmless children, yet he still ran.

He sits at the base of a tree, his knees to his chest, rain slowly begins dropping down. Ichigo covers his head with his hand and stays curled up, by the tree, at the rain drops send shivers down his spine. The wind howls and the boy shivers, curling up tighter, trying to stay warm underneath the empty moonlight shining in and amongst the stars.

Ichigo awoke with a start at the sound of people screaming, his heart races, and a sense of panic rushes through him. He jumps up, panic growing inside him as people continue to scream, seemingly getting closer and closer. The rain pouring down and the chilling wind, none of it matters right now. The sounds circle him, leaving him cornered, Ichigo covers his ears, but he can still hear it. The screams get louder and louder, his name echoing through them. He freezes, haunting screams paralyzing him as he stares out into the dark forest. Ichigo flinches as one scream pierces through, louder than the others, then silence. He lets out a sigh of relief, but doesn't uncover his ears, he watches his surroundings, dull eyes searching for movement. Ichigo sits there in the darkness, he watches the forest, barely making a sound as he shivers.

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The four children run through the trees, the older two carrying the smaller ones on their backs. They weave in and out between the trees, trying to get back to their hideout before they all get soaked. The oldest, a short boy with black hair takes the lead with his younger sister on his back. They quickly climb over newly fallen trees and into their tent-like hideout, it's reasonably sized except for the ceiling which is low enough that the oldest can't stand up straight. The younger two lie down on their thin mats, and curl up underneath a blanket. After they have fallen asleep, the older two sit on their respective mats, the girl frowning slightly and looking down at the ground. She has long silver hair that almost reaches her waist and piercing green eyes.

"Masami-chan, what-cha thinkin' 'bout?" he asks playfully, watching as she fiddles with the edge of her mat.

"That boy Katsurou-kun," she looks up and him, "did you see his eyes?"

Katsurou nods and sighs, "he's probably a murderer, alright. You can't go try to help him because of his eyes, for all you know he could be a cold-blooded murderer and those eyes of his could just be a mask to lure people so he can kill them."

"Don't be so quick to judge people!" she exclaims, "Just because he's another person from this district doesn't mean that he's a murderer!"

He frowns at her and lies down on his mat, "well, you don't get eyes like those for no reason, and he's definitely not new to the rukongai, he would have acted differently if he was."

Masami wraps her blanket around herself and stares up at the low ceiling of the tent, the wind blows furiously and water has started to drip down through the badly patched holes. She rolls onto her side, thoughts of that boy wandering around her mind, those dull, pained amber eyes stare straight at her. His gaze is intimidating yet sad for someone his age. She looks over to the little brown haired boy, shuddering as she tries to imagine those eyes on the little four year old. She looks over to the mat beside Katsurou's, the small blonde haired six year old, again she shudders trying to imagine lifeless eyes on her. Those are definitely not the eyes of a four year old or a six year old, especially not the groups cry-baby.

She can't help but go over the scene in her head, Katsurou's fearful voice and the blank face of the boy. That flinch, even though it was slight, Katsurou managed to get a reaction out of him, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, she doesn't know.

The soft snores of Katsurou and Gorou, the four year old, make her smile. She really is a mother hen, not that she would admit it to Katsurou though, worrying over a strange boy that she's never heard speak, a boy that could be a murderer.

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Author's note

Hello. Sorry this is late, I was forced to socialize with my parents friends and couldn't get away to upload this. Okay so for the matter of the OCs, they aren't going to be a main part of this fic, mostly they are there to get the ball rolling. Also, I sort of explained why Ichigo is acting out of character, although it probably wasn't very clear, sorry about that. Ichigo's past will be explained through small pieces and then eventually a large chunk of a chapter will be dedicated to what happened that left Ichigo as the last one. I'm also going to apologize for the descriptions, which aren't that great as I think I said in the last chapter, it's a work in progress so bare with me. This story, if I go in the direction that I'm planning to, will get better, it's not just going to be descriptions forever. Thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews, I honestly didn't think that it would get this many, I thought that I would get maybe 5 follows, so thank you so much. There was something else that I was going to say...nope can't remember it, oh well. See you next friday!

Thanks for all the follows, favourites and reviews!

Bye!

Etosca


	3. Chapter 2

The Last One Left

Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

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Chapter 2

Ichigo leans forward, pieces of tree bark cover the back of his clothes and all over his orange hair. He stands up, one hand on the tree for support, the other hand brushing off the pieces of tree bark. He stretches out his stiff limbs and climbs up the tree, the leaves brushing against his face as he climbs higher. He scrambles up from branch to branch, having to jump to grab onto some of the higher branches. He reaches the top and looks over the tree line. The tree line continues in all directions except one, off in the distance he can see a small town with unusually small houses. Even from where he is, Ichigo can tell how poor the town is. Ichigo jumps down to the ground and starts walking towards the town.

The short grass prickles his bare feet as he walks closer to the town. Every now and then he can see shadows moving behind trees, poised to attack. He can hear the sound of swords being unsheathed all around him, he stops and stares at one of the shadows. A sword clatters to the ground, the shadow stands there paralyzed. The shadows rush at him, Ichigo ducks underneath the sword slashes and sidesteps lunges. Five of them in total, not including the one that Ichigo paralyzed. Each of them with menacing eyes, and odd scrappy clothes, they grin at Ichigo but he retains his normal blank expression. Acting as a unit they strike, the attack is nothing but the sounds of blades hitting one another. Experimenting with his new size, Ichigo jumps up, grabbing onto a tree branch. He drops down. Landing on one of his attackers. The other four swing at him, narrowly missing the top of his head. Ichigo jumps down from his attacker and pushes him towards the others. A sword plunges through the man. Blood pools around him.

"Brothers, why?" he coughs, grasping his wound.

"You were in the way little brother," they largest sneers at him.

Ichigo looks down at the ground. The largest laughs and rushes at Ichigo. Ichigo looks up, his gaze fierce with anger. He grabs the man's arm. He kicks the sword out of his hands. The man grabs Ichigo by the neck with his other hand. The other men watch as Ichigo's grip tightens. Ichigo reaches out to the sword, cursing his short arms. The man's grip around Ichigo's neck tightens. Ichigo wheezes, struggling to breathe. He flicks the sword up with his foot. He grabs the hilt. Surprised by the weight, he slashes. A thin line appears on the man's face. He drops Ichigo to the ground, pressing his hand to his face. Ichigo gasps, reacquainting oxygen to his lungs. The man glares at the orange haired boy. Ichigo slashes across the man's chest. The man screams, blood drips down his chest from the thin wound. The others take a step back as Ichigo's gaze switches from the man to them.

"You should be glad that I didn't kill you," Ichigo glares, "You are despicable, sacrificing a brother in order to kill someone. Older brothers are born first to protect their little siblings, if you can't do that then you shouldn't be considered siblings!"

The other men watch as Ichigo drops the sword and disappears into the trees. Ichigo runs at full speed, internally laughing sadly at how hypocritical what he said was. As an older brother, he had failed, he failed to protect them from Aizen. He couldn't protect Yuzu and Karin from what Aizen did to them, and what they in turn did to each other. He can no longer be considered a part of the Kurosaki family, he couldn't protect any of them, not even his dad.

Ichigo returns his focus to running, not even noticing that he used shunpo. As soon as he realises, he slams into a tree. Ichigo quickly gets back up, wincing as he touches his nose, broken, like he's done before, he quickly realigns it. He sways as he stands slightly lightheaded as he continues running. Ichigo can hear the Hogyoku tisking him, complaining that he ruined his nice nose. He ignores the girl and continues running, this time paying attention to his surroundings. The town still isn't in sight and trees still seem to surround him. It's still the same, the same pattern of trees, the same size trees but the markings on the trees always differ. Ichigo rushes past, in between and around trees, careful not to run into one again.

Ichigo is at a standstill staring around at his surroundings, the atmosphere in this section of the forest seems somehow much tighter. It's completely silent here, not even the wind dares to come near this area. Splattered flecks of dried blood cover the area, it's dark red, obviously old. Strangely Ichigo immediately thinks of the captain of the eleventh division, Kenpachi Zaraki.

He rushes forward, his pace unchanging despite the dull burning of the soles of his feet. The corner of one of the town buildings peers out through the trees in the distance, the dark wood blending into the trees. The towns sounds echo through the forest, laughter and shouting, crashes and bang, Ichigo can hear it all. As the town steadily approaches, the volume increase allowing Ichigo to hear the ends of conversations. It is a surprisingly loud town.

He walks through the gap between houses and looks around. Down the street Ichigo can see a large crowd of people, some shouting, others gasping and many shifting around nervously. The sound of swords clashing rings out, Ichigo shudders and the crowd roars. He walks closer, his curiosity getting the better of him. Using his small size to his advantage he crawls through crowd, finding a good place to watch. Two fighters circle each other, swords held tightly in their hands, both trying to intimidate the other. The taller one rushes. Yelling erupts from some of the crowd. A sword clatters to the ground. The taller falls to his knees, a sword to his throat. The crowd goes silent, unsure of what had just happened. The shorter walks off, pushing the crowd out of the way and into one of the buildings that line the street. The other man clutches the side of his arm where the short man had somehow cut him. He gets up and quickly walks away, towards the forest. Ichigo can hear the some of the crowd muttering curses, and handing others money. The crowd soon disperses.

Ichigo wanders through the small town, bars basically encompass the streets. He walks down the dirt streets, bottles are lined up by the sides of buildings. There are wooden tables scattered around the street, all with jugs of water lined up one next to the other. Vendors watching protectively for thieves, some going as far as having dud jugs and the real jugs hidden behind her. People are wandering around the town, some drunk, some fighters and some elderly people. Ichigo walks around the small town that consists of only two streets. Almost deserted compared to what he was told by others about the rukongai.

He slips back between two houses and into the forest. Ichigo wanders around for hours consumed by his thoughts, barely noticing where he's going. During this time he has nearly walked into three trees. The newest question in his mind is whether he can use his shinigami powers, he did shunpo earlier, albiet accidentally. That could mean that Shiro and the old man are back. He could have lost his powers but kept his immense reiryoku which could explain-his thoughts are interrupted by shouting.

Ichigo walks towards the voices, as he walks the incoherent shouting turns into comprehensible shouts.

"Give me money or I'll kill your little friend!" A person with a deep voice shouts.

"Let go of Honoka!" a higher voiced person shouts back.

"Do you want the girl to die?" They shout again, "Give me the money already!"

"We don't have any money! Give Honoka back!" Two voices shout at once.

Ichigo's pace quickens, running in between trees and jumping from strangely protruding rock to another in a similar fashion to a mountain goat*. As figures come into view, Ichigo slinks from tree to tree, watching as the five people come into view. A boy with black hair holds a large jug and a little brown haired boy hides behind a silver haired girl. A tall man stands across from them, a small blonde haired girl hanging from his left hand, he holds a sword up to the girls throat in the other hand. The oldest boy glares at the man, shouting various tame curses at him, the man presses the sword to her neck. She whimpers, tears roll down her cheeks. Ichigo sneaks around the tree line so that he's hiding behind a tree facing the man's back. He swiftly moves through the grass. The black haired boy watching his every move like a hawk. Ichigo nods at him, then pulls the man's right hand away from the girl, the man drops the girl and lunges forward, trying to catch her before she runs. He narrowly misses her foot, she squeaks and runs towards her friends. The man runs at them, this time aiming for the jug rather than the girl.

"Katsurou!" The silver haired girl shouts.

Katsurou stumbles backwards, falling to the ground, certain that this is the end. The man grins, his sword in hand, Ichigo rushes forward. Disappearing for a split second, Ichigo kicks. His foot slams into the man's knee with surprising force for his small body. A cracking sound resounds through the trees, the man yelps, Ichigo looks over to the others. Katsurou regains his footing and walks towards the tree line with the others, occasionally looking back at Ichigo and their attacker. Whom is lying on the ground grasping the knee that Ichigo kicked.

Katsurou looks back at Ichigo, "You coming or what?"

Ichigo nods and follows behind them, glancing behind him occasionally. He watches as the smaller two run around the others, laughing, they seem so happy, despite what just happened. Katsurou watches Ichigo in the corner of his eye, untrusting of his actions. He frowns as the boy smiles slightly, almost half-hearted but not quite. He can't get a good understanding of Ichigo. The silver haired girl sighs and looks between Katsurou and the boy, she slows her pace so that she's walking beside him.

"Hi," She smiles, "thanks for helping us, my names Manami"

"Ichigo Kur-" He stops mid sentence and glances down at the ground, "my name's Ichigo"

Manami looks over to the others, seeing the glimpse of pain and sadness flash through his blank eyes. She indicates for the others to come over, which luckily for them Ichigo didn't see. The smallest latches onto Manami's hand, he smiles widely at Ichigo, who can't help but falter slightly. Katsurou watches Ichigo carefully, half expecting him to turn on them at any second. The smallest girl walks beside Katsurou.

Manami smiles and points to the smallest, "This is Gorou-kun," as soon as he hears his name he jumps up and down, smiling.

"This is Katsurou-kun, don't worry about him, behind this untrusting face is essentially a coward, and the girl next to him is Honoka-chan who despite their different looks is the younger sister of Katsurou-kun and she's the one that you saved." Manami introduces, indicating to each person as she speaks.

"Manami-san, do you what district this is?" Ichigo asks.

Manami frowns, racking her mind to remember, "Oh, I think it's the 80th North"

Katsurou walks in front of the others, Honoka following close behind her brother. Manami talks to Ichigo about the soul society, and how it works, a topic which Ichigo finds that she's very interested in. Gorou would interrupt with silly and genuine questions every now and then, followed by a childish joke. Gorou walks between Manami and Ichigo, looking around with curious eyes, not noticing Ichigo's protective gaze. Katsurou glances back and frowns, he can't help but be suspicious of him, the weirdly strong orange haired boy. Honoka noticing his glances and subsequent frowning holds his hand and smiles up at him. Katsurou smiles back at her, his mistrust of Ichigo growing, his need to protect his family from a possible murderer increasing. Katsurou leads them between the trees, still carrying the jug of water, he weaves in and out of the trees. Gorou chatters away to Manami and Ichigo. Ichigo taking in all of his surroundings, the prominent marks distinguishing different parts of the forest indented in his mind. Katsurou leads them through a clearing, allowing the Honoka and Gorou to rest for a little bit before heading back to the hideout. Honoka and Gorou run around, pulling Katsurou, Manami and Ichigo into their game. Katsurou trying to get Ichigo out with every turn with him avoiding the majority of his attempts.

Manami sniggers looking at Katsurou, the imprint of an acorn evident on his forehead. Honoka rubs the back of her neck with one hand, the other behind her back filled with acorns and acorn caps. Katsurou chases after Manami and Honoka, who are both throwing acorns rapid fire. Meanwhile, Gorou hides behind a tree, his hands over his mouth trying to suppress his laughter as Ichigo 'unknowingly' walks towards his trap. Gorou jumps out, prepared to run after Ichigo, he's not there, Gorou looks around, searching for him. Ichigo jumps down from a tree fairly close to his opponent, Gorou shoots off, his target in his sights. Ichigo sneaks behind trees, the smallest loosing sight of him every time he takes his eyes off Ichigo. He starts running slower, allowing Gorou to catch up.

After a while they start walking again, Gorou talking to Ichigo about everything that he sees. Manami and Katsurou talking while Honoka watches Ichigo carefully. Just because he helped to save her doesn't mean that she immediately trusts him.

The sky blazes, the sun disappearing over the horizon, and Gorou stops talking, he looks around wide eyed, afraid. Gorou grabs Ichigo's hand, making him flinch slightly, while Gorou didn't notice it, Honoka did. Ichigo takes a deep breath. Gorou looks around skittishly, the long shadows and eerie sounds echoing through the trees. Manami walks towards Gorou, smiling at him she holds his other hand and talked to him. Katsurou leads the way between trees, looking back at Ichigo he notices the black tattoo-like bands that twists around his neck. He frowns staring that the strange marking, then at the even more unusual creatures on each shoulder partly hidden by the darkness. Katsurou cautiously observes Ichigo, his uneasiness around him gradually increasing. Katsurou weaves in between trees, the others following behind him. They eventually make it back to the tent with Honoka on Katsurou's back and Gorou on Ichigo's back.

Ichigo lies on the spare mat, staring up at the low ceiling, the others, softly snoring beside him. He half heartedly smiles, remembering his sisters and the slight similarities between Katsurou, Honoka and Karin, and Gorou, Manami and Yuzu. While the similarities are slight, they're still there, Katsurou isn't very trusting, he's blunt but he cares for the others. Manami is very caring, she is supportive and kind. They aren't the same but they remind Ichigo of the life he used to live. This time he'll protect them, his new family, they aren't going to die. He slowly drifts to sleep.

Ichigo jolts up, instantly covering his mouth trying not the wake the others and runs outside. Manami and Katsurou share a look as they sit up having already been awoken by Ichigo's frantic movements.

"He's bad news Manami," Katsurou quietly states, "did you even see that thing on his shoulder and those weird bands around his neck, he's just going to cause trouble for us."

"Then why did you offer to bring him here?" She replies in a hushed tone.

* * *

Hello again, so another week has passed and well again I didn't quite get this chapter out on time.

I'm not to pleased with this chapter, it's mediocre at best so there's a good chance that this will be changed at some point.

Also, I won't be posting a new chapter next week, I'm still trying to fix together what's happening with this story so I want to make sure that I know where I'm going with this so I don't completely screw up.

Another thing is I've been wondering whether this should eventually, definitely eventually, have a pairing, this pairing won't start for a while but any ideas as to what the pairing should be would be good. So I might put up a poll or something for that. So the two questions I ask you are; should this eventually have a pairing, and if it does have a pairing what should this pairing be?

Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows

Bye


	4. Chapter 3

The Last One Left

Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Warning:Blood and Violence

* * *

**I'm sorry**

_Hogyoku_

_Flashback_

* * *

Chapter 3

Eight years have passed since Ichigo met them, they haven't really changed much, nor has Ichigo. Katsurou is still wary of Ichigo, trusting him to do certain things like bringing water or getting food for Honoka. Of course Ichigo steals food too but he doesn't need to tell the others that. Honoka has grown up a little bit, she still looks like she's six but she acts older and much to Ichigo's surprise, has spiritual energy. Gorou is still a cry-baby, fearful of anything that's somewhat different, still afraid of the dark despite Manami's attempts to assure him that the dark isn't scary. Manami is still a mother-hen to everyone, including, much to his surprise, Ichigo.

Ichigo runs through the trees, a jug of water in his arms. He can hear the water vendor shouting behind him struggling to keep up with him. The trees rush around him forming a blur of green and brown, his footsteps light on the ground yet thundering in his head. He can hear the hogyoku cheering him on in the back of his mind, jumping up and down as he leaves his pursuers in his dust. He slows to a walk, looking around searching the trees for the marker leading to the lake. The water in the jug sloshes spilling over the side, Ichigo looks in the jug, half empty. His arms are soaking wet from the water that split on him when he was running. Ichigo puts the jug down and leans up against a tree, keeping a close eye on the jug, he dries off his arms on the sides of his clothes.

He looks around through the trees he can see light shimmering on what looks like water. Grabbing the jug, he walks towards it, as he gets closer the water that looked crystal blue is now green, murky and full of mud. He continues walking noting the familiarity about this area. The tree line breaks, opening up to a large clearing, long grass surrounds the lake, tall trees lined up forming a square around the lake. Ichigo frowns as he stares at the murky lake, the distinct feeling of déjà vu creeping up at him. He walks around the lake, watching the water trying to remember why he recognizes it. He shakes his head and walks back out of the clearing. The grass transitions from long to short and prickly against his feet, he continues walking back to his friends.

A loud roar echoes through the trees, Ichigo freezes, he looks around searching the area for movement. The new silence rings in his ears, the sounds of the trees moving in the wind seem empty to him. He flinches as a piercing scream reverberates around him, his heart races as he recognizes the scream, then rushes off towards it. He jumps over rocks, ducking underneath low hanging trees. With each passing second his uneasiness increases, unsure of what to expect and worried about what could have happened. Ichigo slows to a walk as the clearing appears in his sight, he can hear crying and pain-filled voices. His pace increases to a run as he breaks through the tree line and the sight before him hits.

Katsurou shakes Honoka, the desperation in his voice growing by the second, her face is pale and blood pools around her. She has a massive wound running through her shoulder. Katsurou is in bad shape too, cuts cover his body, the largest one on his neck covered with his hand trying to slow the bleeding. Honoka isn't moving, her eyes are dull and a small tear drop drips down her cheek. Gorou lies on the ground, wailing his voice hoarse and small, a large bite mark on his side. Manami sways, struggling to stay awake, her hand loosely around Gorou's, trying to comfort him in someway.

Ichigo walks towards them, the sight in front of him sending shivers down his spine, reminding him of a past that he doesn't want to relive. Ichigo kneels down beside Katsurou, who doesn't look away from Honoka, barely noticing Ichigo. He watches, completely unsure of what to do, regret and guilt building up behind his scowl. Katsurou stops shaking Honoka and glares at Ichigo, Ichigo covers up his flinch.

"I-it's your fault that monster killed Honoka-chan," Katsurou whispers, unable to speak any loud, "you should've been here," his voices wavers, "you were supposed to be back an hour ago." he takes a short breath, "You could have saved Honoka, she would still be alive if you had come earlier, it's all your fault."

Ichigo stares down at the blood splattered grass, his fists clenched around blades of grass. He can hear Katsurou's pain filled and uneven breaths, his almost silent tears, and his quiet cries for his sister. Ichigo places his hands over the wound trying to recall the healing kido that Unohana taught him years ago. He watches his hands desperately waiting for them to start glowing green, waiting for Katsurou to heal. Katsurou looks at him weirdly, unsure of what Ichigo's doing as his hands over his largest wound. Ichigo mutters to himself, trying to remember if he's missing something, maybe an incantation. He can't remember, he moves his hands away and looks back down at the blood splattered grass.

"W-we always... knew you were... weird," Ichigo looks over to Katsurou, "with that weird t-tattoo... thing and the, and t-the... small amount of sleep... you get," Katsurou stares up at the sky, his hand uncovering the wound on his neck, "those... nightmares and, and your-your...," he fades off, unmoving.

"K-katsurou-nii?" Gorou whimpers, "K-katsurou-nii!"

Anguish fills the youngest's voice as he cries for Katsurou and Honoka, Ichigo flinches with each cry. Manami whispers to Gorou, trying to comfort him, her wounds aching, she looks over to Ichigo. He's shaking so much, she can see him talking but she can't hear him. Manami stays kneeling next to Gorou, trying her hardest not to fall to the ground but her surroundings spin around her and she falls to the ground. Gorou quietly cries out.

"M-manami-chan?" he whispers, "Onee-san?"

"Yes, Gorou?" she replies, hiding her pain from him.

"Onee-san, a-are we going to die?" Ichigo shoots up and looks over at them, "I-I don't want to die"

Ichigo stands up and slowly walks over, looking at the wounds that cover Gorou and Manami. The largest wound on Manami is a deep wound running from her right shoulder to her left hip. Gorou, on the other hand, was simply covering in deep wounds, the most prominent is the bite on his side. Ichigo kneels beside Gorou, who loosely holds his hand, Ichigo stares down at the ground.

"Onii-san" Gorou whispers, "I don't w-want to die," his words getting quieter.

Ichigo looks at Gorou as he takes his final breath, Manami cries, wiping her tears with her bloodied sleeve. She looks over to Ichigo, who is struggling not to panic, trying not to let his memories resurface. Manami yelps as she pushes herself up so that she can see Ichigo and her friends properly. Ichigo doesn't look up, he stays staring down at his clenched fists. Manami

"Ichigo... what happened to you?" Manami asks, her voice quiet and thin, her breaths drawn out and tired, "you're so protective of us, b-but... you don't really speak, you're our number 1 protector," she looks at him, "but you don't really care... about yourself"

Ichigo looks at her, tears threatening to drop, "You shouldn't worry about me"

Tears well up in her eyes, "Ichigo... stop acting like... an idiot!" she struggles to catch her breath, "of course... of course I worry about you, d-don't you... see yourself! D-don't you... care what happens to you" Ichigo looks down at the ground, "Ichigo, you're like my brother, I don't... w-want you to get hurt because you ... you don't care about yourself," she winces, tears trickling down her cheeks, "I-I know it might... be a little late, b-but i-it's our turn to protect... our brother, f-from now... f-from now on, we, we w-will... protect... you... Ichigo" her voice shakes until it fades off, her breaths shallow and painful until they stop, Ichigo stares at Manami his eyes wide, tears starting to fall.

"No, no, no!" panic fills his voice, his hands shake as he fully takes in his surroundings.

His friends lie in a clearing, blood is splattered on the grass, small pools of blood surround them. Pale and lifeless. His friends, in some ways, his family, dead once again. Katsurou hugging Honoka, Honoka hugging him back, Gorou still holding Manami's hand and Manami's hand on his. He flinches away, Manami's lifeless hand falling to the ground. The image of his surroundings imprinted in his mind. Their blood dripping down his hands, from touching the small pools of blood. He stares at his hands, he can't breathe, he stares at them, his friends, his eyes wide, images flashing in front of his eyes. Ichigo shakes his head trying to stop the images that keep on flashing.

_"Ichigo from now on, me... and Yuzu will protect you, you...you don't need to worry about us... anymore"_

He clutches his head, his fists grabbing pieces of his orange hair, tears spilling down his cheeks.

_"Ichigo, I-I'm scared... I-I don't... want to die"_

"No," he shakes, his entire body shaking, "no, it-it happened again," he falls to his knees, his memories ringing in his ears, "no, I-I failed again!" his voice cracking, full of anguish.

He can't control it anymore, he can hear something cracking in the back of his head. Pressure slams down against him, his body feels like it's on fire, fizzling under the surface. A tower of black reiatsu fills the sky, Ichigo grits his teeth. The pain is overwhelming, he can barely breathe, panic setting in as the pressure grows and his reiatsu grows more potent. The tattoo mask on his shoulders glow an ominous red, his restrictors burning his skin. Ichigo yells out in agony, everything hurts. He looks around panicking as the area around him gets crushed. His friends getting crushed by the pressure. His mind is overrun with memories, but he can't hold them back. In his panic he calls out for Hogyoku trying to get her to put the restrictors back. He is met with the roar of his mind, screams and shouting from the past ringing in his ears. Ichigo covers his ears, trying to block out the sounds. He brings his knees to his chest, and grips his shoulders where the burning resistors lie. His hands burn as he begins to scratch at the burning resistors, acting as a distraction from everything around him.

He can hear his name being called, by whom though he can't tell. All he can hear is a loud voice piercing through the screams. He's lost sense of everything around him, stuck in his own mind as he relives the past. The voice pierces through again, Ichigo pushes away some of the memories as he tries to focus on the voice.

_"Ichigo-san!" The hogyoku screams over top of hundreds of other voices screaming and shouting similar things, "Focus on me, on my voice!"_

Ichigo listens for the voice that seems drowned out by the other noise surrounding him. He can barely hear what they're saying other than his name, anything else is lost in the sound. He focuses, in and out of the words, catching some, others completely drowned out by the more unpleasant sounds. Silence. His mind goes silent, completely quiet, no shouting or screams, nothing.

He gasps as he lurches forward, falling to his hands and knees as he catches his breath. His hands are burnt from the resistors, and his arms are covered in scratches resulting in mostly abrasions but some lacerations. His hands covered in both dried and new blood, his hair a few shades darker in the places he touched. He pushes himself up onto one knee, the area surrounding him almost completely destroyed. He shakily stands up, not really comprehending his surroundings as he walks into the forest. His mind numb, barely feeling a thing, remnants of memories still flashing in his eyes. He trudges forward, using the trees for support, stumbling every now and then. Everything around him seems to blur, unable to completely focus on what's in front of him. To him he is just walking, there isn't much around him except for the blurs. His body feels so heavy, he wants to sleep but can't seem to stop walking, compelled to continue on, despite his exhaustion.

* * *

A little while before...

All eyes in the seireitei turned to the tower of black reiatsu, even from there they could feel the pressure and pain radiating from the tower. Shinigami all stare at it, some fearful, others in awe, few with curiosity and many with concern. Faint tremours from the fluctuating reiatsu can be felt throughout the seireitei, causing many souls to worry. Shinigami are sent into a state of confusion as to whose reiatsu it is, some unsure of whether it even is from another shinigami. The twelfth division is rushing around trying to pinpoint the exact location and find out if the reiatsu even belongs to a shinigami. A few members of the ninth and tenth divisions scouring the North districts for the source of the tower, staying on guard as they head towards the tower.

Captain-commander Yamamoto calling a calling a captains meeting, establishing what is to be done about the tower. Yamamoto sits at the end of the room, the twelve captains standing parallel to each other.

"Kirio Hikifune, have you found out anything about the reiatsu?" Yamamoto asks.

She steps forward, tucking her long purple hair behind her ear before she begins, "we have yet to find much, what we know currently is that it holds traces of shinigami reiatsu but the reiryoku signature doesn't match any in our databases, we are currently pinpointing where in the North districts it is coming from and will report to you once it is found"

Kensei frowns, "You said traces of shinigami reiatsu, is the reiatsu from a shinigami or something else?"

She looks over to Kensei, "The signature is unique, it holds traces of many different things, one of the key portions that seem to make up the reiryoku is shinigami, however another portion holds quincy properties."

The room goes silent, the captains still as they mull over what the twelfth division captain had just said. Tension building up around them as the implications seem to lead to one possible situation.

"A hybrid" Yoruichi shihoin states.

The other captains nod coming to a similar conclusion, Kirio agrees although looking rather concerned about it. Her eyes downcast, contrary to her usual cheery demeanor as her mind works through the past trials with hybrids. Thinking through the possibilities, trying to find a a loop hole for the trails, yet finding none. She rethinks and revises them in her mind, however, she still can't find any reason the trails didn't work but a hybrid still exists. The trails failed, in all the ways that were tried, they failed to create a hybrid that could function with the purpose that they wanted. Many of the hybrids that were created died almost instantly, those that survived were paralyzed. Her train of thought is broken as Yamamoto begins talking, gaining the attention of all the captains.

"Yes, so it seems," Yamamoto says, "this is very troubling, a hybrid whose creation was thought to be impossible," He looks over to the tenth division captain, "Shiba, you will lead your men to the location and either capture or kill the hybrid," he looks towards Kensei, "Muguruma you will sent word to your division to come back and protect the seireitei, the hybrid could be coming here. You are all to be on standby should the hybrid prove to be an issue, dismissed"

* * *

**A/N**

Hello!

I'm back and still late, so first of all I should apologise for my lateness and for me being really mean to Ichigo, there's a reason to it I promise. A lot of you can probably see where this is going, I think, maybe, I'm not to sure.

This is where the plot will properly begin so I don't think it will be as dramatic, I don't mean for it to be dramatic, it just sort of happens, so point it out if you see any unnecessary drama and I will try to fix it if it really is unnecessary.

I sort of hope that I will be able to get another chapter out on friday but I'm not sure since I have final exams and final projects for all of my classes coming up. I'm going to try but for a little while I will be posting chapters as soon as they are finished and have hopefully been edited.

Another thing is I've been wondering whether this should eventually, definitely eventually, have a pairing, this pairing won't start for a while but any ideas as to what the pairing should be would be good. So I might put up a poll or something for that. There's been a suggestion of UnohanaxIchigo.

So the two questions I ask you are; should this eventually have a pairing, and if it does have a pairing what should this pairing be?

Also, constructive criticism is always appreciated, my writing style is a work in progress so any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Opinions and thoughts about the story are also appreciated (I've written appreciated so many times and my english teacher would get annoyed at that, oh well). Another thing, my grammar is probably awful, I'm working on it so bare with me.

Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites

See ya soon

Etosca


	5. Chapter 4

The Last One Left

Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

* * *

Chapter 4

The scenery around him changes as he and his division approaches the site. Chunks of the ground are missing, trees are bent, cracked and fallen, some are just splinters that cover the ground. The ground that was once covered in long grass has been left bare. The amount of destruction caused by the hybrid's reiatsu was immense, the entire surrounding area is completely obliterated. Shiba leads the way through the trees carefully observing his surroundings for movement. As he walks between the trees and into the clearing, he stops, his face turning serious and solemn. A large dent in the ground meets his eyes, and silhouettes of 4 small bodies are imprinted on the ground. The ground, or what remains of it, is splattered with dried blood. The centre of the large dent is covered in speckles of dark red. On one of the trees there are four thick claw marks, the only tree that remains un-cracked or bent is this one. Shiba scowls, he looks around to his division, the few unseated shinigami stare in shock, his lieutenant walks up next to him. His usual goofy smile replaced with an impassive look, his eyes serious but his expression is blank.

Shiba tells his division to split up and cover more ground. He heads off leaving his lieutenant at the clearing in case the hybrid comes back. He pushes back a bent branch, and walks through the trees. He can hear the splinters of trees crack and snap underneath his feet, the sounds of the trees creaking and cracking in the wind echo around the forest. Shiba looks at his surroundings, his eyes sharp, searching his surroundings for any movement. Although, judging from the state of the clearing the hybrid is most likely not in the best shape. Shiba pushes that thought to the back of his mind not wanting to be caught off guard due to a possibility.

The two of them walk through the trees, the taller one flinching with each creak and crack of the trees, the shorter one smiling each time, amused by his skittishness. The shorter one smiles at the new recruit, his first real mission out of the academy. She looks around, a sudden change in the wind catching her attention, eagle eyes observe her surroundings. Her new associate doing something similar, having felt the icy chill in the wind. She scowls and quickens her pace, the recruit following close behind her, one of his hands on the hilt of his zanpakuto, prepared for a fight. A glimpse of orange shimmers in her peripheral vision, she looks over, nothing, the orange was gone. She holds her hand up, signaling for the recruit to stop moving. Staggered footsteps, harsh breaths break through the sound of creaking trees, yet no visible source of these sounds, she looks around, her hand still up. The harsh breaths fade as a small thump resounds around them, the recruit frowns, unsure and nervous. She puts her hand down as the silence among the trees become evident, she walks between the trees towards the area that she assumes the sound was coming from. He follows close behind her, keeping a close eye out for any incoming danger that could be approaching, waiting for them to have their backs turned.

Orange stands out from the browns and the greens of the forest, it looks soft. She looks at the orange carefully approaching, the sight in front of her becoming more clear. A boy lies on the ground, his eyes shut, dried blood on his shoulders, fingers and in some places his hair. Dark rings under his eyes, his edges of his clothes ripped and dirty, some areas darker than others. She walks up to the boy, crouching down, she pokes the boy, the recruit watching with a 'what are you doing' sort of look. The boy rolls over so his back is facing her, she pokes him again, he doesn't move, his breaths even and uncaring of the things around him, at the moment. She ignores his evident exhaustion, continuing to poke him to try to wake him up. The recruit looks warily at the boy, cautiously approaching him, half expecting him to jump up and grab his foot.

"Shino, should w-we bring him back to the clearing?" the recruit asks, his nervousness leaking into his voice.

She looks between the boy and the recruit, "Maybe, he could know something about the hybrid but we could be wasting our time with a brat who just happened to be in the wrong place"

"S-so we bring him back?"

"Yep." She replies, then looking to the boy she shouts, "Wake up kid!"

He doesn't move, Shino sighs and tries again, the only movement he makes is the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. She grabs the boys arms and pulls him up with the help of the recruit, so that she's carrying him on her back. Shino walks back towards the clearing, the boy flinching in his sleep, the recruit following behind her. The forest is like a maze, almost unidentifiable trees, all looking similar, the only ways that they differ is how they are broken. Shino frowns, trying to tell the trees apart, wondering whether they are simply walking in circles. The new recruit takes the lead, which, surprisingly, Shino doesn't mind, he weaves in and out of the trees, retracing their steps. He leads the way until they break through the warped tree line and into the somewhat destroyed clearing.

The lieutenant of the tenth division sits, his zanpakuto resting on his knees, his eyes closed. Shino places the boy down on the ground before approaching the lieutenant, the recruit watching surprised and unsure of what to do. She shouts at him, telling him that they found someone, he opens one eye. He sighs and as he stands up he puts his zanpakuto back in it's sheath, Shino huffs and walks back over to the boy. He walks over to the boy, walking around one of the silhouettes that are imprinted on the ground. The orange haired boy jolts up, his eyes wide, he quickly reigns himself in as he realizes that he's not alone.

Ichigo jolts up, his mind still numb, he takes a deep breath before properly looking around. Two shinigami stare at him, the taller has a shaky hand on his zanpakuto and the shorter simply staring at him, her eyes wide. He quickly composes himself, not showing the internal panic and worry that is pounding in his mind. His blank eyes stare back at them, not fully comprehending where he is, he looks around this time taking no notice of the two shinigami. The indentations in the ground scream at him and the silhouettes haunt him, he shakes his head trying to rid himself of those thoughts. Figuring that this isn't real, that it's just a cruel dream reminding him of what he's done. He shuts his eyes and pinches himself, he opens his eyes, expecting to be alone on the forest floor, but his surroundings remain. He flinches as the shorter shinigami pokes him, he pushes himself off the ground, the cuts on his arms tingling as he moves. Spiky black hair and brown eyes, stare at him, Ichigo gulps and falls back to the ground. Sideburns but a clean-shaven face, Ichigo's eyes are wide as he stares up at the tallest shinigami. The shinigami at question stares back at the orange haired boy who is currently fighting within himself. Both wanting to jump for joy and wanting to hug him but neither of those things are an option. He pushes the memories down, not wanting to panic in front of him, that would only make things worse. He shakes his head, focusing back on the shinigami, the tallest waving his hand in front of Ichigo's eyes.

"Hey kid, you all right?" Ichigo stops himself from flinching and looks down at the ground.

"I'm fine" He replies, his voice tired and empty.

The lieutenant looks over to the other two shinigami, "Shino, Ryūnosuke you can go back to searching"

Shino hesitantly agrees and walks back into the forest with Ryūnosuke following on her heels.

The lieutenant sits down, and waits until the others are out of earshot. He looks over to Ichigo and rests back, looking up at the sky. Ichigo tenses waiting for the inevitable question to be asked, he stares down at the ground, scratching at the dried blood on his fingers.

"So, you're the hybrid aren't you?" he says, not looking away from the sky, "the source of that reiatsu"

Ichigo stays silent for a while, before saying, "yes, I'm the source of the reiatsu"

"Judging from this area and your shoulders, you didn't mean to release your resistors," he stares up, watching the clouds, "if you keep on scratching at your resistors they'll break more easily." He shifts over to look at Ichigo, "The name's Isshin Shiba, what's your name kid?"

Ichigo doesn't visibly react, but internally he's both ecstatic and panicking, "Ichigo"

Isshin smiles, "Number one protector huh, good name"

"I'm not much of a protector anymore," He stares down at the ground, not wanting to look up, "I lost the right to be called a protector a long time ago," Ichigo pauses for a long time before breaking the silence, "Are you going to kill me? Maybe that would be for the best, I've already screwed up so much," Ichigo says monotonously.

"Geez kid, that's a depressing outlook, I mean sadness can be a cool thing to shoulder but you're too young for that sort of thing*" Isshin looks back up at the sky.

Ichigo flinches, those words from years ago ringing in his ears, he takes a deep breath struggling to keep himself from reacting. He doesn't look up, his fists clenched, focusing on his fists rather than the scene around him. Isshin looks over to Ichigo, he watches the boy, his tense posture and clenched fists, looking down at the ground. He looks back up at the clouds, his expression showing sympathy but not looking at the boy. Ichigo looks up at the sky, not in quite the same way as Isshin but it's similar. Ichigo shakes his head as the silhouettes imprinted in the ground creep into his sights, trying to rid himself of those thoughts, he looks back up at the sky.

"Why don't you become a shinigami?" Isshin breaks the silence, "You can't continue relying on those resistors, at this rate they'll break if something like this happens again, so either you have to learn how to control it by yourself, learn it at the academy or stay by yourself, be considered a threat by the soul society and a target for hollows," Isshin pauses, "It's up to you really."

"It's not really much of a choice, the way that your suggesting it, before I'd be able to control it, I'll either be targeted by hollows or my resistors will break" Ichigo says.

"You're not a very positive person are you?" Isshin sighs, scratching the back of his neck.

"Not anymore" Ichigo pulls his knees to his chest and looks down at the ground again.

His words repeat in Isshins mind, a child who's seen too much, his voice devoid and empty, and his eyes dull and lifeless. For someone so young to have so much power but can't be around anyone because of it, a truly sad reality. He looks so broken, especially for a boy who looked no older than 10. Isshin sighs, his usual carefree and goofy personality, replaced with a serious personality, his sympathy clear in his eyes.

Ichigo wracks his mind, a much younger version of his dad sits in front of him, a version of him that has no idea who he is. An person who's simultaneously his dad and not his dad, a person that he wants to go up and hug but can't. The father that he hasn't seen in years, that he thought he wouldn't see again, that he didn't deserve to see again. After all his death was his fault, entirely, definitely not much of a protector, definitely just a strawberry now. He had his back turned when the...enemy struck, it would have been a mortal wound so Isshin stood in front of it, killing the...enemy and saving him in the process. He's definitely just a strawberry, not a protector, at least not a protector anymore.

A rustle in the trees breaks him away from his thoughts, he looks over, on guard as the trees creak and rustle. The entire clearing seems to rustle, setting Ichigo on edge as he looks around at the locations of the different sounds, trying to identify threats. Quiet footsteps seem deafening as Ichigo looks around with a strange sense of urgency. Isshin looks over, Ichigo's eyes are wide, with every different sound he's covering up a flinch. A white haori peaks through the trees, a grinning face waves at Isshin, not noticing Ichigo. Spikey brown hair and green eyes shine, he looks surprisingly young. The captain pauses, looking between his lazy lieutenant and an orange haired boy. He looks between the two, his words failing him as he splutters out incoherent words. Isshin laughs at his captain. Ichigo looks between the two, their similar features matching up, the only differences between the two are their hair and eye colours. He walks over to Isshin and sits next to him, placing his sword beside him.

"So, lazy little brother, who have you found?" He smirks.

"...This is Ichigo, annoying older brother Takeshi" Isshin retorts.

Ichigo looks between the two of them, in slight disbelief, not knowing that Isshin even had a brother. Takeshi looks at Ichigo, green eyes calculating before a massive grin spreads across his face.

"So strawberry, how are your resistors?" Takeshi grins, Ichigo scowls at him, "Hold on," he sighs, his grin disappearing as he notices Ichigo's tense and on edge body language, "I didn't mean it that way, look kid, judging from the fact that you have no weapon and your resistors are almost fried I'm not going to harm you," Takeshi looks over to Isshin, "however, judging from the fact that the two of you know each other, my lazy lieutenant has probably done something that could cause me to loose my captaincy, so I'm leaving it up to you, I'll have no part of it," his expression turns dark as he looks towards his brother, "Isshin if you dare screw this up I'll tell Kukaku"

Ichigo looks between the two of them, Isshin's face is pale and Takeshi is absent-mindedly laughing at his expense.

One by one the other division members filter back, setting Ichigo on guard each time the trees rustle and creak louder than before. Each new division member looking at Ichigo with critical eyes, judging him, seeing whether he's a threat or not. Ichigo tensing with each look, those eyes reminding him of things he would rather not remember. Takeshi waves each of them off, sending Isshin a look as he notices Ichigo's unusual behaviour. After all of the division members have returned they all report back, noting nothing of interest other than one. One had come across a small tent that had collapsed, with sleeping mats and stored water jugs. In one corner they even said that there were two threadbare toys, a dog and an octopus. Ichigo clenches his fists and looks down at the ground, not wanting to show his face. The person continues on, saying about the crushed flowers at the entrance and drawings in the dirt. Ichigo's hands shake, he takes in a shaky breath, trying to prevent himself from doing anything irrational. He doesn't want to harm those around him or show them his weakness. He looks up as a large hand ruffles his hair, Isshin doesn't look at him or say anything to him.

"Alright, we're going to go back to the seireitei," he addresses all those around him, "Isshin, are you coming with us?"

"No, I'll stay behind" Isshin says taking his hand off Ichigo's head.

"Right, move out!" Takeshi orders, walking out of the clearing, the others following close behind him, before shunpo-ing at a speed all of those can keep up at.

Isshin looks over to Ichigo once the others are out of sight, he sighs and lies down on the ground. Ichigo looks down at the ground, again, his hands aren't shaking anymore, nor is his mind racing. They just sit like that for a while, in utter silence other than the sounds of the creaking trees.

"Did you know them?" Isshin breaks the silence, "The ones who lived in the tent?"

Ichigo stays silent for a while, "Yes," he doesn't look up, his voice monotonous.

"What are you going to do?" Isshin asks, not wanting to pry on the matter of the one in the tents.

Again Ichigo stays quiet for a while, thinking over what he knows, "I need to make a grave for them, then I'll probably go wandering for a bit or go to the seireitei and become a shinigami"

Isshin nods, thinking over the boy's words, conflicted between curiosity and not wanting to pry about who's grave he's making. Thinking better than to ask him out it he decides to let it go. Still be can't quite get over the boy's voice, he's heard people talking with the same tone as Ichigo, just they're all much older and have seen things that people shouldn't see. That point leads him to wonder, which granted he doesn't do very often, but still, it leads him to wonder what Ichigo's seen. Then there's the other question of the silhouette imprints, just thinking about all of this is giving him a headache. He sighs, realising how much work this could lead to. That what probably why Takeshi left it up to him, Isshin curses his brother under his breath. He really should have expected something like that from Takeshi, forcing him to do work.

Isshin follows behind Ichigo as he navigates the forest, neither of them saying anything to the other. Isshin absentmindedly walking, his mind wandering, watching as darkness spreads through the forest. Ichigo looks around, searching the surrounding area for thieves or murderers hiding in the bushes and trees. He weaves in and out trying to loose those that could be following their trail, doubling back to cause confusion leading Isshin to believe that Ichigo doesn't know what he's doing. Ichigo leads Isshin in circles, each time looking down at their tracks in the ground for conformation. He lets out an almost silent sigh of relief as the ground turns back to long grass and the trees steadily become less cracked as they progress through the forest. Isshin notices this too, his amazement and empathy for Ichigo growing as he walks, properly understanding the sheer strength of his reiryoku. Ichigo leads them into the clearing, the reflection of the moon shimmering on the lake. Isshin stares at the dark blue colour of the water before going over and resting against a tree. Ichigo sits in the grass, staring at the reflection as familiar snores fill the air. His thoughts tangled and complex as he runs through possibilities and probabilities about Isshin and what year he is in. Ichigo sighs and leans back, his arms propping him up as he looks over to Isshin. Regret and guilt filling his mind as he struggles to stay awake, his eyelids feel heavy, he lies down and gives in.

_He looks around, staring at the familiar surroundings, remembering his last visit here. A seemingly endless white desert extends to one side, light from the fake sky on the other side illuminating the ground through a gaping hole in the wall. White walls and smoking buildings seem to stare at them from the other side. Across from him there are three figures, one tall, the other two shorter, all of them in white uniforms though each differing in style. He looks back as a hand claps him on the shoulder, Isshin's goofy grin replaced with a serious gaze. Isshin looks from Ichigo to the three figures as they walk closer. Ichigo's grip on zangetsu tightens as his amber eyes meets one of his opponents brown eyes. Isshin growls underneath his breath as he looks at the three of them. _

_"Aizen!" Isshin starts, "What the hell did you do to my daughters!"_

_A loud screech echoes around Hueco Mundo as a short girl with black hair and dark eyes walks forward. A white feather-like structure wraps around the left side of her neck going all the way to the top of her right shoulder. She glares at Isshin and Ichigo, not even a hint of recognition as she glares. She pushes off the ground and rushes at the two of them letting out a loud piercing screech._

Ichigo shoots up, the screech still ringing in is ears, his breaths erratic, he walks into the forest, leaning up against the trees as he struggles to forget about that screech and what came after.

* * *

*This is a reference/paraphrase of what Isshin said to Ichigo previously, "Live well, age well, and go bald well. And die after me. And... if you can, die smiling. If I can't, I won't be able to face Masaki. Don't hesitate to act. Sadness is a cool thing to shoulder, but you're still too young."(Manga, Chapter 25, pg 15)

**AN**:

Hello

So that was longer than I anticipated it to be, 3,600 words! Which may or may not be a good thing.

This chapter was probably dramatic, I didn't mean for it to be dramatic so to those who don't like how dramatic it was, I'm sorry and I will try to fix it in the future.

The updates will go back to normal in june, right now I'm stuck doing revision for exams and working on final projects that are worth a lot. After schools finished then I'll be back to updating consistently.

Another thing is I've been wondering whether this should eventually, definitely eventually, have a pairing, this pairing won't start for a while but any ideas as to what the pairing should be would be good. So I might put up a poll or something for that. There's been three suggestions so far, UnohanaxIchigo, YorouichixIchigo and LisaxIchigo.

So the two questions I ask you are; should this eventually have a pairing, and if it does have a pairing what should this pairing be?

Opinions, thoughts and ideas about the story are always welcome, some ideas I might not be able to incorperate but I'll try so long as its within what I can do. Any advise is also appreciated, as I've said before, my writing is a work in progress so suggestions about it are appreciated.

Thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites, I can't believe that this story has 68 followers, I didn't think that so many people would like it, thank you so much!

See you/talk to you soon

Etosca


	6. Chapter 5

The Last One Left

Summary: After defeating Aizen for the final time, Ichigo is left as the last person in two worlds. The world, everything and everyone that he has come to know is long gone, leaving him to succumb to his loneliness. His desire to go back is left unheard until Aizens defeat, when he wakes up in an unusual body. Time-travel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I got a little stuck

Chapter 5

Isshin shifts over, looking to a near by tree, empty, there's noting there, he rubs his eyes not fully comprehending what's around him. He frowns as he looks, knowing that before there was someone there before but not quite remembering who it was. Isshin gets up, stretching his back and yawning, pushing the thought out of his mind, assuming that it didn't matter. He picks up his sealed sword, putting it back on his waist incase he needs it. Isshin walks over to the water bank, scooping up some water with his hands and pouring it on himself, trying to wake up properly. His eyes go wide and he drops the water as the realization hits him. Ichigo isn't there. Isshin pushes himself to his feet and looks around their little camp site.

"Ichigo," Isshin shouts as he walks around, "Ichigo!" he repeats, he can't help but worry about the boy.

He freezes as the leaves rustle around him, his hand on the hilt of his sword as he stares out into the forestry. Tension rising up his shoulders as he watches the area like a hawk for the source. Isshin walks towards it, a scowl prevalent on his face as he approaches the source, the four options of the source running through his head; Ichigo, an animal, a soul or a hollow. He turns on the ball of his foot as a twig snags from behind him. Isshin draws his sword. He sees nothing except the lake, Isshin turns back around where a head of orange hair stands out from the green of the trees.

Isshin sighs as he sheaths his sword, "Ichigo, what are you doing?"

"Sorry," Ichigo starts to explain as he walks out of the forest and into the light, "I...just had to get away." He knows that Isshin probably won't dig into it but still he did act like a coward the night before, at least that's what Ichigo thinks.

Isshin frowns but a light smile appears, "I understand." He walks back over to the lake turning to Ichigo as he kneels down, "Today, we probably won't do too much traveling but I need to look at your resistors properly." He pauses as he pours water onto his head, "I need to be back in the seireitei in a few days otherwise the head captain and Takeshi will end up questioning me about what I've been doing, and that would end up being a lot of work, not to mention paperwork that my annoying brother would pin on me" he runs his fingers through his hair as he speaks.

Ichigo walks over to his somewhat oblivious father, finding it very strange but nostalgic and a little melancholic. He sits down by the bank around the lake, rolling up the little sleeves that he has revealing the strange resistors. Isshin stares at the resistors, he'd seen ones in the shape of flowers since that was standard but never in other shapes. He follows the resistor as he sees it wind around Ichigo's neck and to another strange almost hollow-like shape. Both of the hollow-like shapes have a large crack through the center, stopping half way through. Isshin just stares at the resistors, unsure and slightly confused at how Ichigo could have so much reiastu that needs to be controlled. He thought that he, himself had a lot when he was young but compared to this kid, he didn't have much. Isshin runs a hand through his hair, complex resistors, he can deal with them up to a certain level and of course Ichigo's had to be above his level. Kisuke would need to look at these, granted the man would go a little, eccentric when he sees it but it would be better than not understanding it.

"Ichigo, how did you get this resistor?" Isshin asks.

"I woke up with it" Ichigo says quickly, it's the truth but not the entire truth.

"When you came to the soul society or just one day" Isshin asks, knowing that this would be getting much more complicated than he originally thought.

"When I came here." Ichigo says, unsure of where Isshin is going with this, "Why are you asking?"

"Your resistor is really complicated, a lot more complicated than the average resistor so when you get to the seireitei, I'll take you to see a friend of mine, he'll be able to fix it and probably make it more efficient" Isshin states staring down at the lake water.

"Okay" Ichigo states, already knowing who he means and both excited to see the eccentric and laid-back man again and nervous from the fact that the captains and vice-captains already know that he's a hybrid.

A few days pass, Isshin looks over to Ichigo, still as blank as ever but that isn't something that would change within a few days. He's going back to the seireitei, leaving Ichigo behind. However, Ichigo had given his word that he would join the academy next year since this current year has already begun. Isshin gives the boy a goofy grin before he shunpos (shunpoes) off into the trees. Ichigo slumps down, dropping the small rucksack with some of this friends precious things on the ground. He sighs and sets off towards the seireitei, not knowing how long it would take on foot. His resistors tingling every now and then as they have been for months, even before, the...incident. He absentmindedly scratches at it forgetting the damage that he has already caused to them. He walks out of one of the many clearings, the sound of the eerie creaking trees at his back. With each step the sounds echo, from the faintest sound to a tree cracking and falling, these sounds only make it more clear, that yet again, he is alone, utterly alone.

AN:

Hello, I'm back! Later than I had hoped but I'm back, I got stuck on this chapter for a while which really annoyed me so I left it alone for a little bit and came back to it still stuck. Finally I managed to write this chapter but It's not as good as usual or as long as usual since it just barely goes over a thousand words. My updates at this point will probably be staggered and I will be updating when I can and most likely as soon as a chapter is done so I apologize in advance for both the grammer/spelling errors and the length of time between updates. I've been really busy and from the looks of I will continue to be busy. Another thing is I've been wondering whether this should eventually, definitely eventually, have a pairing, this pairing won't start for a while but any ideas as to what the pairing should be would be good. So I might put up a poll or something for that. There's been three suggestions so far, UnohanaxIchigo, YorouichixIchigo and LisaxIchigo.

So the two questions I ask you are; should this eventually have a pairing, and if it does have a pairing what should this pairing be?

Opinions, thoughts and ideas about the story are always welcome, some ideas I might not be able to incorperate but I'll try so long as its within what I can do. Any advise is also appreciated, as I've said before, my writing is a work in progress so suggestions about it are appreciated.

Thank you so much for all the reviews, favourites and follows!

See you/talk to you soon

Etosca


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